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Comment by joezydeco | Hacker News Reader

The Pimsleur language instruction CDs use a similar method of spaced repetition. At least for me, it was incredibly effective.

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What language(s) did you learn, how long have you been learning (them) and what level of fluency have you reached?

I have been using the Pimsleur Spanish CDs for almost 6 months. I have made a lot of progress (especially with vocabulary) but am still at a beginner level (high beginner though, almost low intermediate).

I finished German 1 a few years ago. I have 2/3 but haven't had time to work on them. #1 taught me so much so quickly that it was enough to get me through a couple of trips.

I learned basic Mandarin Chinese by using those CD's (Pimsleur) on the way to work and back for a whole year.

I am still amazed of how "organic" was the learning.. I mean, after some time I just started "understanding" more advanced conversations to the point that even my chinese friends got startled.

Also, I have not used the CD's for over 3 years (or spend time in china) and I still recall most of what I learned.

I think that's what stunned me the most about this type of learning is how deep the knowledge gets burned into your brain. It's not like cramming for an exam or reading the language dictionary on the flight over.

The basic idea is to keep the knowledge "in" the different memory spaces (short,medium,permanent) for it to get moved up to the next memory space, until it becomes "permanent".

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